


A little bit bent, not broken

by Talvenhenki



Series: Modern AU Leoncelot [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28717542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talvenhenki/pseuds/Talvenhenki
Summary: Lancelot finds out that his mother is in hospital and wants to see him and Leon. Problem is, Lancelot's father does not like the idea since he doesn't approve of Lancelot's relationship with Leon.
Relationships: Lancelot/Leon (Merlin)
Series: Modern AU Leoncelot [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099886
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	A little bit bent, not broken

**Author's Note:**

> Another day, another Leoncelot fic! As per usual, I'm off to sleep so proofreading has been been ditched :"D
> 
> Warning: Lancelot's father is homophobic but does not say anything insulting; he's just being a prick.

Coming home from work at the bakery-slash-café, Leon found Lancelot sitting on the floor, curled up into a foetal position, trembling. Leon immediately dropped his things, took off his jacket and shoes, and rushed to Lancelot. It wasn’t very unusual for Leon to find Lancelot like that – Lancelot’s anxiety had suddenly spiked a few weeks before. Lancelot sometimes had panic attacks. What Leon didn’t like was the fact that Lancelot was on the floor; Lancelot would usually rather curl up on the bed or the sofa.

Leon stroked Lancelot’s hair. “What’s going on?” he asked softly. “Did something happen?”

“My mother”, Lancelot breathed shakily, “she got taken to a hospital. My brother called me to let me know; he said that my dad would not have told me. We’re not…I haven’t talked to most of my family after we got together.”

Leon had been aware of this. Most of the time, Lancelot just flat-out refused to talk about his family, only telling Leon that his father had a strong will, and that he refused to accept that his third child was gay. As far as Leon knew, Lancelot’s siblings were not like that, but their father had ordered them to not contact Lancelot at all. Perhaps he was one of those people who thought he could be infected by gay people.

Sighing, Leon pulled Lancelot into a hug. “Do you want to go see her? I could take you to the hospital if you want me to.”

Lancelot wrapped his arms around Leon’s waist and took a deep breath. “My brother said that both of us should come”, he whispered, “because they don’t know what my mother has. Apparently, she’d like to meet you.”

“And your father?” Leon asked. “What does he have to say?”

Lancelot shook his head. “He doesn’t know. My brother told me that he’ll take care of it if we decide to come see mom.”

Leon stayed silent, weighing their options. In his opinion, Lancelot should be allowed to go see his mother, especially if she was ill with something life-threatening. What if she died from it? Lancelot would surely blame himself for not going to see her while he still had the chance. Then again, Leon was not sure if Lancelot could handle the whole situation in the hospital, considering his anxiety. Besides, Leon wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to meet Lancelot’s father. The man had caused enough suffering.

“Do you want to go?” Leon whispered, still holding Lancelot close. “I’ll go with you if you want to go. I’m not leaving you alone with your family until I can trust them.”

Lancelot nodded. “I do”, he breathed, “but I’m afraid my father will get mad.”

“You don’t have to fear him”, Leon told Lancelot, “I’ll be right beside you. And it sounds like your brother might be too. Now, which hospital did they take your mother to?”

“Uh…the name’s on my phone”, Lancelot said, pulling away from the hug, “my brother texted it to me.”

Smiling, Leon nodded. He checked Lancelot’s phone for the name and found that the hospital was just around the corner, which surprised him. Logically, he’d known that Lancelot’s parents lived close, but since the zip code was different, he had never put much thought on it.

“It’s not too far away”, Leon said softly, “we could walk there. Is that okay with you?”

Lancelot nodded. “Let me get ready. I’ll text my brother that we’re coming.”

The walk to the hospital felt agonising. Lancelot began to tremble halfway to the hospital, and he held Leon’s hand the whole time. At one crossing, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, Leon pulled Lancelot into a quick hug. He rubbed Lancelot’s back, hoping to soothe his nerves. He wasn’t sure it worked; Lancelot seemed just as miserable as before when they continued their trek towards the hospital.

Arriving to the hospital, Lancelot walked to an unknown man near the entrance. He had dark hair and Lancelot’s eyes – _must be his brother_ , Leon thought absentmindedly. The man immediately pulled Lancelot into a hug, which Leon had not expected at all.

As Lancelot pulled away, he turned to Leon. “This is my brother, Lachlan”, he said and then turned back to his brother, “this is Leon, my partner. Tell me, how’s mom?”

“It’s probably hypothyroidism”, Lachlan said after greeting Leon with a quick wave of his hand, “what we don’t understand is how it remained undetected for so long. Come, let’s go in. I’ll have Lydia get dad outside for a bit so you can sneak in.”

Lancelot and Leon followed Lachlan inside, still holding hands. Lancelot was quietly explaining his family to Leon who felt like it was the most Lancelot had ever talked of it. He had two older siblings, Lachlan and Lydia, and two younger ones, Luke and Lucy. Luke and Lucy still lived with Lancelot’s parents, Lucy being as young as seventeen. Their mother was French and had come to Scotland after meeting their father who had been studying abroad for a year. Mostly their family was nice, but the father had some very strong opinions which had originally caused Lancelot to drift away from them.

Nearing the hospital room, they saw a young woman pushing an older man outside of the room. Lachlan cursed under his breath as the man’s eyes fell on Lancelot who immediately squeezed Leon’s hand.

“What’s _he_ doing here?” the man hissed. Lachlan physically placed himself between the man and Lancelot before pushing Lancelot inside the room he’d said their mother was in. Leon followed and immediately hugged Lancelot when the older man began shouting.

“Lancelot?” someone asked.

Turning around, Leon saw three people. A boy and a girl, who had to be Luke and Lucy, and a woman who lay on the bed. Her hair was already greying in streaks, and she had the same eyes as Lancelot. The teenagers hugged Lancelot as he tried to make his way to their mother.

“Hi”, Lancelot mumbled at his siblings, “good to see you – please – let go.”

Eventually Lancelot managed to shake off his siblings and reach his mother. He sat on the edge of her bed – his siblings had knocked over the chairs – and held his mother’s hand.

“My dear boy”, said Lancelot’s mother, stroking his hair, “ _tu m’as manqué_. Won’t you introduce me to your partner?”

Lancelot nodded. “ _Oui_ ”, he whispered and waved at Leon to come closer, “this is Leon, _maman_. We’ve been together for almost two years now. We live quite close.”

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Leon”, Lancelot’s mother said, smiling at Leon, “my name is Nicole and, as you know, I am Lancelot’s mother.”

“It’s very nice to meet you too, ma’am”, Leon replied, smiling, “Lancelot never talks much about his family, but I can see that you’re all very important to him. I’d like to get to know all of you better.”

Nicole smiled at Leon and then turned her attention back to Lancelot. She wiped his cheeks – his eyes had teared up – and squeezed his fingers. It was becoming quite clear to Leon where Lancelot had got his physical love language; the mother and the son expressed their love in the exact same way.

“What happened, _maman_?” Lancelot asked softly, his voice tight. “Why didn’t you see a doctor earlier? Surely you’d had other symptoms of hypothyroidism. Why did you ignore the signs?”

“I did see a doctor”, Nicole explained, “but he thought it was just a case of depression and didn’t even bother with tests. Probably thought it was because I am a foreigner in this country.”

Meanwhile, Luke and Lucy had caught up with Leon. It turned out that they were very curious about their brother’s love life since they had very little experience or knowledge on all matters not straight. Their father had insisted that all of his children would marry someone of the “opposite gender” and have children, which sort of drove Leon up the wall.

“So, this is probably stupid”, Luke began, “but is it possible to like both men and women? Don’t tell my dad, but I’ve been thinking that I wouldn’t mind being together with a guy. It wasn’t until Lance got together with you that I even realised that it’s a possibility.”

Leon shook his head. “It’s not stupid at all”, he said, “and yes, you can be attracted to men and women simultaneously. And, of course, there are those who exist outside the gender binary. There are loads of options.”

“So, you don’t have to be a woman or a man?” Lucy asked. “How does that work?”

“Well, it’s a part of your identity”, Leon explained, “if you feel like you don’t fit the box labelled ‘woman’ or the box labelled ‘man’, there are other identities, like ‘both’ and ‘neither’!”

“What about not being attracted to anyone?” Luke asked, his eyes wide with wonder. “Is that a possibility too? I’ve got a friend who says he’s never had a crush on anyone.”

Leon was starting to feel like he was giving a crash course on different sexualities. Not that he minded, though. Lancelot’s siblings were very polite and open-minded. Leon wondered secretly how it was possible for a man like Lancelot’s father to have five such open-minded children. Perhaps it was thanks to their mother; she seemed like an open-minded person herself.

“That is also possible”, Leon said, “your friend might be asexual or aromantic, or both! I am asexual myself – it’s not so uncommon. There’s also different possibilities under that umbrella; I suggest your friend researches those words to find the right label.”

The kids nodded, clearly having got much to think about. Leon couldn’t help but chuckle – it had clearly been a good idea to come over. Perhaps these children could help turn their father’s head about Lancelot not being allowed to see his family. Even though Lancelot didn’t talk about it often, Leon knew it was haunting him. Lancelot still loved his family very dearly, no matter what his father said about Lancelot’s sexuality.

Suddenly the door opened, and Lancelot’s father walked in. “You”, he said, looking at Leon, “gather Lancelot and leave. Your time’s up.”

Leon was already about to start arguing, but Lancelot stopped him. “Better not to fight”, Lancelot whispered, “it would only end in tears. Let’s go.”

Lancelot pulled Leon outside. When the door closed behind them, he leaned against the wall and slid down on the floor, breathing heavily. Leon knelt next to him, holding his hand to give him some wordless support. Lachlan and Lydia knelt down as well; they both looked exhausted but there was some victory in their eyes.

“We managed to knock some sense into him”, Lydia said softly, combing her fingers through Lancelot’s hair. “It won’t be an instant change, but he promised to re-evaluate his views. He’ll no longer forbid us from seeing you.”

“Want to go celebrate the victory?” Lachlan asked. “My treat. There’s a good Italian restaurant not too far from here.”

Lancelot nodded. “I’d like that”, he whispered and turned to Leon. “You?”

“I’d love to”, Leon said, smiling at Lancelot, “tonight we celebrate a little victory and the fact that I finally got to meet your family. Sounds good?”

Smiling gratefully, Lancelot nodded. Things wouldn’t be instantly perfect, but they were getting better already.

**Author's Note:**

>  _Tu m'as manqué_ = I have missed you
> 
> Comments will fuel my soul!


End file.
